


Trust

by afspouse



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-14
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 15:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1082699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afspouse/pseuds/afspouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a second breech opens, Marshall Stacker Pentecost assembles a team of top Jaegers and their pilots. Raleigh Becket is placed in charge, and struggles to make the Rangers put the past behind them and work as a team. As he untangles their secrets, he finds himself drawn to Audrey Vaughn, the only person physically able to pilot a Jaeger solo. AU! Eventual RaleighxOC</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to warn everyone ahead of time, this probably isn't like the other Pacific Rim stories. I took a lot of creative license, tweaking parts of the story to fit what I want. I did my best to explain everything, but please let me know if I didn't explain something that I changed in the story. It is definitely a fluffy story, but I hope you still think it's a fun easy read! I love reviews and feedback, so please send the love! (Or the helpful criticisms)

Raleigh Becket glanced around the Hong Kong shatterdome as he made his way to Marshall Stacker Pentecost's office. He didn't have any idea why he'd been transferred there, or why the Marshall had set up office there. Raleigh had been placed in charge of the Tokyo Shatterdome after his copilot and brother, Yancy, died in their Jaeger five years earlier. He couldn't bring himself to pilot anymore, but he'd been unable to leave the Jaeger program entirely, it was ingrained too deeply in him. The Jaeger Academy would do that to a person. 200 people started in a class, but after the grueling 4 year program, only 10-20 of them would get their own jaegers. The rest were placed in support roles in the program. The school trained them in every facet of the program, making them fit to become engineers, navigational support, or even mechanics.

"Becket." Marshall Stacker Pentecost said, rising from his desk as Raleigh entered the office.

"Marshall." Raleigh said respectfully, sitting in the chair across the desk from Stacker as Stacker took his seat. They sat in silence for a beat before Raleigh leaned forward. "What's going on, sir? Why'd you bring me here?"

The Marshall sighed before answering. "Another breech has opened."

"Shit." Raleigh hissed through his teeth. "Where?"

"About 50 miles from here, middle of the pacific." Stacker said. The first breech was opened close to Alaska, and the largest shatterdome was just off the coast. Now the Hong Kong shatterdome had been built seemingly overnight, and it seemed to be almost twice as large as the Alaskan one.

"We are stationing six jaegers here. The best of the best. We need to keep the Kaiju off of land… and we need to find a way to close the breeches… before they open a third." Stacker told Raleigh. His face was drawn and tired. He'd been burning the candle at both ends since the program was granted seemingly unlimited funds to get the Shatterdome off the ground.

"Which six?" Raleigh asked. He knew the amount of time it took to construct a Jaeger, and there were only two under construction right now, and they were months from completion. Besides, the best of the best weren't wet behind the ears graduates of the Academy.

"I've got some ideas, but I wanted your input. We need to decide and get them mobilized." Stacker told him, handing him a stack of files.

Raleigh thumbed through them. With the exception of Crimson Typhoon he only he knew the pilots and Jaegers by name and reputation, but he kept a close eye on all the active Jaegers and had an idea of which ones he'd want beside him in a fight. "Striker Eureka is a give in." He declared, dropping the file back on the desk. Stacker nodded. "Cherno Alpha, Solar Prophet and Crimson Typhoon." He added.

"The same ones I would've chosen." The Marshall told him, silently urging Raleigh to continue.

"You're bringing Coyote Tango over right? Can't let your pride and joy sit this out." Raleigh asked him noticing the file was absent from the stack. Coyote Tango had been refurbished and upgraded and had been given to Audrey Vaughn, the only pilot that had been able to fly solo with no adverse effects. She was wired differently than the average person. Every recruit that came through the Academy hoped to be the next Audrey Vaughn, especially the ones that didn't have a strong connection to their partners. A strong neural handshake in the drift made a stronger Jaeger. Audrey Vaughn cut that piece out of the equation.

"I was going to leave her in Alaska." Stacker admitted. "She can head the assault there."

Raleigh frowned. "You said you wanted the best. Audrey Vaughn and Coyote Tango can rip the head off a Kaiju and not even break a sweat."

The Marshall nodded in agreement. "There's bad blood between her and some of the other teams." He admitted. "I don't think you can get her to work with some of them."

"So?" Raleigh demanded. "This isn't a fucking party. They need to get over it."

"I don't think it's that easy." The Marshall warned him.

"What happened? They haven't even been stationed in the same shatterdome." Raleigh asked. He could understand if they were on a joint mission that went bad, but he knew they hadn't.

"It's… complicated. If we bring these teams here, you're going to have a challenge getting them to work together."

"I will?" Raleigh asked, not aware that he would be heading the team.

"You will." Stacker knew that the 5 teams Raleigh picked were the best, and would be their best shot, but he thought Raleigh was underestimating how deep the problems ran.

"If they're as good as we think they are, they'll figure out a way to make it work."

Stacker sighed. "You're right. Coyote Tango, Solar Prophet, Cherno Alpha, Crimson Typhoon, Striker Eureka… and Gipsy Danger." He said with a small smile tugging at his lips.

Raleigh perked up at the sound of his old Jaeger's name. "Gipsy is coming out retirement?"

"If her pilot is." Stacker told him.

"I don't have a copilot." Raleigh told him, the idea of getting back inside Gipsy making his stomach churn.

"We'll get you one."

"What if I say no?" Raleigh challenged.

"Becket, you are the best. I need you to lead this team. If we don't figure out a way to close those breeches, it's game over." Stacker told him. He looked Raleigh straight in the eye and asked him, "Would you rather die here, or in a Jaeger?"

Raleigh watched Striker Eureka being lowered into the shatterdome while Herc and Chuck Hansen, Striker's father/son team of pilots, walked into the large main room of the shatterdome, talking amongst themselves. "That just leaves Coyote Tango." Raleigh told Stacker.

"There was a Cat III off the shore of Anchorage this morning. She was delayed." The Marshall told him, motioning to a news report showing highlights of the fight, the interview with Audrey Vaughn, or more appropriately, an interview with her Ops officer. Audrey walked silently beside him, her pretty face set in a determined expression, as he tried to answer questions, her eyes avoiding direct contact with the reporters. The reporters fired off questions, demanding to know why Coyote Tango was being transferred from Alaska. Finally Audrey stopped in her tracks and grabbed a microphone out of her face. "I'm sorry. I have to go. The others are going to take care of the Kaiju. You will be fine." She announced, her face pleading with the camera. The screen changed to a pleasant news anchor at a desk moving on to the next news event of the day and Raleigh looked at Stacker.

"Not a big talker?" He asked.

"Something like that." The Marshall answered with a small, humorless chuckle. He'd known Audrey since she'd entered the Academy, and he knew she'd always been dedicated to the program and was able to pinpoint her focus, blocking out any and all distractions when she was in the zone. "We'll meet after she gets here."

A couple hours later, Coyote Tango was lowered into the shatterdome and Audrey Vaughn walked in from her helicopter, flanked by members of her crew. Raleigh stood back while the Marshall greeted her and her crew, observing. Audrey stood about 5'7" with an athletic build. Her long straight brown hair was loose from the bun that she had worn in her uniform on the news report and fell past her shoulders. She wore the same determined expression she'd had on television as she listened to Stacker.

After nodding at Stacker, she set off in Raleigh's direction and her face broke into a wide smile. He cocked an eyebrow, confused at the sudden turn around in her mood. Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky, the Cherno Alpha pilots, strode past him and met her with brief hug and he suddenly understood. Audrey and the Kaidonovsky'a more than likely went through the academy together, plus they had run missions together and Raleigh guessed this wasn't a team she had bad blood with. They walked with her towards the hallway Raleigh had been lingering in, stopping to greet him.

"This is Audrey Vaughn." Sasha said bluntly, not one for small talk.

"Raleigh Becket." He said, shaking her hand.

"I know." She admitted with a small smile. "You're kind of a big deal in Alaska." She turned to Sasha and Aleksis. "Is everyone else here?" She asked. The Russians nodded.

"Do they know I'm here?"

"Not yet." Aleksis told her. "We thought we'd make it a surprise." He said with a boyish grin.

"Great, it'll just be one big reunion." Audrey said. Her voice dripped with sarcasm, but her eyes resembled that of a caged animal, with a predator looming overhead.

Sasha began speaking Russian to Audrey, and Raleigh couldn't keep up. He'd chosen to study Chinese in the Academy. Audrey had chosen Russian clearly. Raleigh tried to pull out any words he'd picked up over the course of his career, but the only words he recognized were a string of swear words Audrey spoke in response to whatever Sasha said. Sasha answered her and Audrey nodded. She glanced quickly at Raleigh, before giving an almost imperceptible shake of her head, indicating they shouldn't continue their conversation.

"I heard their bringing Gipsy out of retirement." Audrey said to Raleigh.

"And me with it." He said with a smile and a nod.

She laughed quickly looking at Sasha and Aleksis. "Chuck is going to shit a brick." She said, making them both break into half smiles. Her smile seemed forced, probably due to Raleigh's presence.

"I will show you your room." Sasha said in English, pointing towards the bulkhead door leading to Audrey's small room. Raleigh walked towards his own, next door to Audrey's.

"We gotta meet up in an hour." He told them. "Kind of a welcome to Hong Kong thing." He said with a cockeyed grin.

"More like welcome to the end of the world." Audrey muttered under her breath. Raleigh grinned at her and she gave him a begrudging smile, rolling her eyes.

An hour later the pilots of the six Jaegers sat around a large meeting table. Chuck and Herc Hansen from the Australian shatterdome, Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky from Russia, Anthony Pisano and Ricardo Reiz from Peru, Audrey Vaughn from Alaska, Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang from Tokyo and Raleigh Becket.

"You are here, because you are the best of the best." Marshall Stacker Pentecost began, stopping when Chuck Hansen scoffed, muttering under his breath. "Something wrong Hansen?" Stacker asked. Herc gave his son a 'drop it' look, but Chuck ignored him.

"Becket hasn't piloted a Jaeger in five years, and doesn't even have a copilot, not to mention his Jaeger hasn't seen a fight since he dropped." Chuck began, eliciting a dirty look from much of the table. "And Vaughn…" he began immediately catching her furious gaze. "Well, she doesn't exactly play well with others." He finished.

Raleigh opened his mouth to begin his harsh rebuttal, but was cut off by Audrey's calm even tone.

"If you're as good as you think you are, it shouldn't matter if I play well with you or not. And the only reason you're bitching about Raleigh is because you're afraid that once he gets back in the fight he'll get all your glory, and you'll be second fiddle." She finished with a hint of a vicious smile playing at her lips, staring at Chuck, daring him to come up with a rebuke.

"IF you two are finished." Stacker barked, shooting daggers at the table. Chuck muttered something that resembled an apology to the Marshall, and Audrey looked back down at the leather bound notebook in front of her, detailing the Hong Kong Shatterdome project. She was slowly rotating her chair 180 degrees back and forth, tapping her lips absentmindedly with the end of her pen.

Stacker continued detailing the purpose of the new dome, and the mission. He told them of a new tracking system. The dome was so close to the new breech that they could pinpoint exactly when a Kaiju left the breech and where they were. It would take less than five minutes to sound the alarm and mobilize the Jaegers.

"So, we still don't know how to close the breeches?" Anthony Pisano asked. Audrey stopped moving her chair and sat up, either paying attention to the question or to Pisano.

"Not yet, the scientists are working around the clock to figure it out, we will be…" Stacker said, pausing to find the correct word.

"experimenting?" Raleigh offered.

Stacker nodded, continuing, "Some theories will be tested by the Jaegers. Until then, train. Keep in top form until you get an alarm. No different than the day to day at the other domes. Your first session is with Becket after dinner." Stacker looked from person to person getting a nod of understanding from each of them. "Becket, we're going to start copilot tryouts day after tomorrow." Raleigh nodded, surprised that he was nervous about the possibility of getting back into Gipsy, especially with a stranger. "Dismissed." Penecost told them.

Everyone stood to leave, and Audrey hung back watching everyone leave. She stiffened as people walked past her. "Sorry." Anthony Pisano muttered as he brushed by her, looking at her impassively.

"Excuse me." Ricardo said with a wolfish grin, bumping her shoulder with his. She ignored them, focusing her gaze at the wall in front of her. Chuck hit her other shoulder with his own, knocking her slightly off balance. It was clear to Raleigh they were posturing, making sure Audrey knew they were the big dicks in the room.

Herc approached Audrey swiftly, wrapping her in a bear hug. She put her arms around him, hugging him back. "How ya been?" He asked her with a smile.

"Fine."

"Better than fine from what I hear. Kicking Kaiju ass all up and down the coast?" Herc prodded.

"Something like that." She admitted with a smile. "Aren't you getting a little old for this shit?" She teased.

"Never!" he insisted, puffing his chest out cartoonishly, eliciting the first laugh from Audrey Raleigh had heard.

Chuck poked his head back in the room, looking at his father. "They're doing a check on Striker, you coming?"

"Yeah." Herc called over his shoulder. He kissed the top of Audrey's head and said goodbye, before leaving.

This interaction left Raleigh even more confused than when Stacker first told him that Audrey had issues with some of the other teams. Clearly Chuck had some sort of problem, but Raleigh suspected it had more to do with her possibly upstaging him and Pisano and Ruiz seemed to just be following his lead. If Herc was so close with her, Raleigh didn't think there was any way there could be a rift so huge she couldn't work with them.

Raleigh wanted to hit his head against the wall after an hour of working with the group of Rangers he'd help assemble. Chuck didn't want to work with Vaughn. The Russians didn't want to work with the Peruvians or the Australians. Vaughn didn't seem to particularly want to work with anyone. The Wei Tang triplets had left the group completely, training on their own in the corner while Raleigh tried once again to start a strategy session.

He moved the model of Striker Eureka on the tabletop map in front of a figure of a Kaiju, and put the Coyote Tango figure on the other side of the model Kaiju, the Cherno Alpha model back in a defensive position. "What would you two do?" Raliegh questioned.

Chuck launched into a one man soliloquy conveniently forgetting to utilize the Coyote Tango asset. Herc sighed at his son.

"Boy, you're going to have to learn to use all the allies you've got." Herc insisted. Herc altered his son's plan to include Coyote Tango, and Raleigh thought he might be getting a breakthrough.

"And you?" Raleigh asked Audrey.

Audrey shrugged her shoulders. "I can't say what I would do. I do what feels right at the time." She said.

"Jesus Christ." Raleigh muttered under his breath. If he was honest with himself, it was the same thing he did in a fight, but he had the sense to fake a plan during these tactical practices. "That's enough for tonight." Raleigh finally said. The groups broke away from the table as if it was on fire, going their separate ways. "Vaughn." Raleigh called to Audrey's retreating back. She stopped, letting everyone else leave the room before she turned around to face him.

"Yeah?" She asked him impatiently.

"You've got to cut that shit out." Raleigh told her, his patience, and his tact gone.

"What shit?"

"Don't play dumb. You're a part of this team so you need to act like it." Raleigh told her.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "And what about the rest of them?"

"Chuck is a glory hound, we both know that. He'll come around, Herc will make sure of that, especially if you do." Raleigh told her. She rolled her eyes and Raleigh's last bit of self-control snapped. "You're a Ranger damnit! Whatever petty bullshit you have with Hansen, you need to put it behind you. I don't give a damn if you two fucked and it ended badly, or if he talked shit about you at the Academy. Grow up, get over it, and do your job."

Audrey smiled sardonically. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about." She spit before turning on her heel.

"Then tell me!" Raleigh shouted at her.

"Don't worry about it. I'll do my job, sir." She said before stepping threw the bulkhead door and throwing it closed behind her.

Raleigh stopped at Marshall Pentecost's office. The Marshall looked up from the computer screen and motioned Raleigh in.

"What is going on with Vaughn and Hansen?" Raleigh asked him, not taking a seat. He didn't want to take up too much of the Marshall's time, but he had to know.

"I warned you…" Stacker began, before Raleigh spoke again.

"I didn't care what happened before because I didn't think it would affect me. But now I can't train them until I know what is going on." Raleigh explained.

"I can't tell you what happened, I'm not even sure what happened." Stacker told him. "Just know that it's bad, and it's not going to go away. We don't need to send six Jaegers after a Kaiju, I'd advise you to figure out a way to keep them apart."

Raleigh shook his head. This secretiveness was piquing his curiosity, and frustrating him to no end.

"If you think you have to know, I'd start with Herc." Stacker offered. "He's about the only one that can talk some sense into that boy, and he's been in his head."

Raleigh nodded, making a mental note to talk to Herc at breakfast.

Raleigh woke to the sound of a scream, and jolted upright. The time on the clock read 0233. He got his bearings and realized he was hearing Audrey in the next room. Nightmares were nothing special in the Ranger world. They'd all had close calls, but they were disturbing none the less. Raleigh pulled on a pair of grey sweatpants and walked the short distance to Audrey's door. He paused when he heard her faintly say "Chuck" followed shortly by "No." He banged on the door and pushed it open. Audrey was sitting up, have awoken by Raleigh's knock. She looked at him in confusion.

"You were having a nightmare." He explained, not stepping past the doorway.

Her eyes raked quickly over his bare chest, still not speaking.

"You… yelled." He explained further.

"Sorry." She said softly, looking embarrassed. She got out of bed, wearing a black tank top and a pair of shorts. She grabbed a pair of sweatpants identical to Raleigh's off a chair and a couple things from a drawer, before stepping behind a wall to change. He stood where he was, trying to figure out what she was doing. She stepped past him, closing the door behind her.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, trailing behind her.

"I can't go back to sleep right now." She said over her shoulder. "I'm gonna go to the workout room for a while. Sorry for waking you up." She said honestly.

Raleigh paused in the hallway scratching his head, before grabbing a shirt out of his room and following her. He was up now too and he might as well get a workout in too. Audrey had gotten on a treadmill and Raleigh took the one next to hers. They ran in silence, until Raleigh finally spoke. "What's going on with you and Hansen?"

"Nothing." Audrey said, focusing her attention on the wall in front of her.

"It's not nothing." Raleigh insisted.

Audrey stopped her treadmill and turned to look at him. "Please, let this go." She pleaded with him. The first open sign of weakness she'd shown him. He stopped and looked back at her. There were so many emotions running across her face; fear, anger, disgust, guilt. He couldn't keep up.

"Alright." He said to her. It wasn't a lie exactly. He'd leave her alone about it, but he wanted to know what the big secret was.

"Thank you." She said, almost whispering, before turning the treadmill back on, and they ran side by side in comfortable silence.


	2. TWO

Raleigh looked around the cafeteria, making a mental note of Herc's position. Once Chuck stepped away, he planned on having a conversation with Herc. He gave Audrey a half wave as he passed her, sitting with her crew. She was nursing a large cup of coffee and a plate of toast and eggs. She returned the wave; not quite meeting his gaze and Raleigh took a seat next to Tendo Choi, the Ops officer for Gipsy. "How's she doing?" Raleigh asked him.

"Almost ready for action." Tendo told him with a grin. "You found a copilot yet?"

"Got some people lined up for tomorrow, hopefully there's a match." Raleigh said an edge of nervousness in his voice.

"Most of the recruits would give their left arm to work with Raleigh Becket; they'll trust you, you've just gotta trust them." Tendo offered to him, trying to reassure him. "Once you've got the neural handshake, everything else will fall into place."

Raleigh nodded, distracted by Chuck leaving his place at a table next to his father. "I'll be back." He said to Tendo, grabbing his coffee and occupying Chuck's now vacant seat.

"Raleigh." Herc said in way of greeting. "I'm sorry about Chuck's crack the other day, he didn't mean anything by it, he's just…"

"Mornin'" Raleigh said waving away Herc's apology. "Don't worry about it. I was hoping I could talk to you."

"Sure."

Raleigh thought for a moment on how to word his question; he decided that blunt was the best route. "What happened with Chuck and Audrey?"

Herc chuckled under his breath. "I wondered how long it would take to get that question." He sat silent for a beat before sighing. "I don't know what happened."

Raleigh was getting really tired of hearing I don't know from everyone. "You must have some idea." Raleigh urged.

"Audrey's father and I were partners. We were the first team in Striker. Her Dad died when she was young, almost the same way as your brother, just pulled out of the cockpit. I kept close eye on her and her Mother, her and Chuck were good friends, like cousins, or even brother and sister."

Raleigh raided an eyebrow in disbelief. He couldn't ever imagine those two being close.

"They joined the Academy together, you know?" Herc asked Raleigh, he continued when Raleigh looked at him as if he'd gone stupid. "They were partners, they were gonna be as good as the Becket brothers." Herc told him with a wink. "Then one day, Chuck tells me that he's getting a new partner and Audrey's on her own. I just… I don't know what caused the drift to shut down between them, but it did." Herc shook his head at the disappointing memory.

"You're in Chuck's head every day. You never saw anything?" Raleigh asked, incredulous.

"You and Yancy never had any secrets between you?" Herc asked him. "You never blocked anything out?"

Raleigh nodded as he began to understand.

"If there's anything there, Chuck's blocking it, and I'm not looking for it. I drift to kick Kaiju ass, not to psychoanalyze my son." Herc said.

"Think it would do any good to ask him?" Raleigh asked, though he was almost positive he knew the answer.

"If you think you can get something out of him I couldn't." Herc challenged.

"I appreciate your time." Raleigh told him as he got up from his seat. He was hoping for some kind of breakthrough, but he wasn't getting anywhere. The Marshall was right, he just need to figure out a way to keep them apart. With six jaegers, that would be easy. If they started losing any, well, hopefully they'd realize that this was bigger than whatever beef they had.

The alarm sounded just after lunch. The five Jaeger teams scrambled to the command center and faced Raleigh and Stacker, who were speaking quickly. The Ops officers stood at their respective stations, waiting the order to power up their Jaegers. "We have a Cat IV. Coyote Tango and Cherno Alpha on the offensive, and Solar Prophet stay close to the shore as backup." Stacker Pentecost barked.

The pilots began suiting up as the Ops Officers began running the start up on the three Jaegers. "Wait!" Coyote Tango's Ops Officer shouted from behind his computer. "The O2 lines are busted all to shit. Coyote Tango can't go out."

"What?" Audrey yelled, yanking the gloves off her suit and running behind the computer, pulling up system reports and reading quickly. "How the hell did this happen? She was fine last night!" She looked at James Dorian, her Ops Officer, demanding an answer.

A voice came over the loudspeaker in the terminal. "It looks like the lines were cut, then yanked out of the port. This is going to take some time to fix."

"Crimson Typhoon, go." The Marshall barked, before stepping behind the control center for Coyote Tango.

"Marshall, I can still go. I don't need the O2 lines as long as the cockpit doesn't submerge…" Audrey began, before being cut off by Stacker.

"You can't go if you aren't 100% functional. You could die. Sit this one out." Stacker said calmly, his eyes not leaving the screen.

"But…" Audrey began.

"Ranger! Stand down!" Marshall barked at her. Audrey shot daggers at him, before turning her gaze to Anthony Pisano and Ricardo Ruiz, and then to Chuck and Herc Hansen, seeming to want someone to blame. She stormed out of the room, throwing a fist into the wall as she made her way to Cherno Alpha's control center to observe.

"Do you think someone sabotaged Coyote intentionally?" Raleigh asked Stacker, his gaze focused on a very angry Audrey.

"I can't think of any other reason for an O2 line to be destroyed." Stacker said ominously. "But there is a possibility that some idiot mechanic messed up."

"Yeah." Raleigh said calmly, but inside, he was fuming. He stood silently, watching the room buzz with activity as Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha fought against the Kaiju, an eel like creature with a long snout full of teeth similar to a crocodile. After the fight was finally over, Raleigh sidled up to Chuck who didn't seem to be too happy to be on the sidelines. "You wouldn't know anything about Coyote Tango's O2 lines would you?" He half whispered.

"Not a thing." Chuck said coolly. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Vaughn did it herself. She's always loved any attention she could get."

Raleigh took another look at Audrey, who seemed to be biting her lip so hard she might bite through it at any time. He doubted she would do anything to jeopardize her chance to fight, but he didn't know her very well, he supposed at this point anything was possible. "Get everyone into the meeting room after the Jaegers get back." He told Chuck abruptly, leaving the control room before his anger, and confusion got the better of him.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

"Good job out there." Raleigh began, looking at the three teams that had been in the field earlier. They nodded in thanks and Raleigh continued. "Unfortunately, Coyote Tango was sabotaged, and couldn't go out."

He watched everyone's face for some sign of guilt but instead was met with impassive gazes, save for Audrey's menacing expression as she also looked at the other pilots. "I don't know what the hell goes on at the other domes, but we do NOT turn against each other here! I don't give a shit who you are or what your kill rate is, if I find out that anyone touches ANYTHING on someone's Jaeger, you're out." Raleigh ran a hand through his hair as he caught his breath, and composed himself. "We are a team. Start acting like it." He said in a low menacing voice.

He waved his arm to dismiss the group and they began to file out. "I guess you've got Becket fighting your battles now, Vaughn?" Chuck said over his shoulder. Audrey started towards him, but Aleksis and Sasha stood in front of her, forming a nearly immovable wall.

"Let it go." Aleksis told her, ignoring her angry gaze.

Raleigh put a hand on Audrey's shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin, whirling around to face him. "I forgot you were here." She admitted to him.

"I see that." He said, fighting a smile as she recovered from her scare, she clearly didn't like that he'd seen her scared. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he put his hands up in a mock surrender.

"I can fight my own battles." She told Raleigh. "You don't need to protect me."

"I would've given that speech if it was any Jaeger, it just happened to be yours." Raleigh told her. "Do you have any idea who it could have been?"

"Marshall said it could've been a mistake." Audrey said a hint of disdain in her voice. Raleigh gave her a 'get serious' look and she shook her head. "I don't know who it was." She admitted.

"Chuck?" He asked.

She thought seriously for a minute. "I don't think so. Chuck is too busy worrying about himself to think about sabotage."

"We're upping security around the jaegers. If you don't work on it, you don't touch it." Raleigh assured her.

"Good." She said curtly, before changing the subject. "You have tryouts tomorrow don't you?"

"Yep." He said. He'd almost forgotten about them in the chaos of the day. Almost.

She furrowed her brow. "Nervous?" She asked him.

"Nah." He said. "Worried." He admitted after a beat.

"You're Raleigh Becket. You could have a sack of potatoes next to you and still kick ass… Well, as long as the potatoes could drift." Audrey told him.

Raleigh laughed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." He said with a lazy grin. Raleigh looked at his watch, it was still early. "I'm gonna go practice for tomorrow. Want to help?"

Audrey looked at him warily but nodded.

An hour and a half later, Raleigh and Audrey were both sweating and breathing heavily, standing on the opposite sides of the mat. They had matched each other moves almost completely. Raleigh hadn't had such a matched fight since Yancy.

"Too bad you have your own Jaeger. We'd be a good team." Raleigh told her, before charging towards her again. They exchanged blows, until Audrey slipped, falling to her knees.

"I can't drift." She told him, sweeping a leg around and dropping Raleigh to his back, pinning him with a cocky look.

"You drifted with Chuck." He retorted using his body weight to flip her to her back. They both stood and she looked at him warily.

"How do you know about that?" She demanded.

"Herc."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Figures." She grumbled.

"How'd you figure it out?" Raleigh asked as they both drank from their water bottles.

"Figure what out?"

"That you could pilot without a partner? Seems pretty risky for them to just hope your brain didn't turn to goo after a while."

"I'm just different, it's like if I was double jointed, or had an extra eye or something… It's some kind of mutation. They ran all the tests when I first joined the Academy, but they didn't tell me about it until my last year. They wanted to monitor it without me knowing. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, I didn't have any reason to work by myself."

"Until you couldn't drift with Chuck anymore." Raleigh prompted.

"Until I couldn't drift with anyone anymore." Audrey corrected.

She pulled her black t-shirt off leaving only a sports bra. "It's late." She told him, "I'm going to shower and check on Coyote."

Raleigh swallowed as his eyes grazed over her toned body. He was pretty positive she wanted to distract him from their conversation, and it was working. "Thanks for the help." He told her.

Audrey nodded before leaving Raleigh alone with his thoughts. The training session had lifted his spirits. If he had been able to work so well with Audrey, it shouldn't be difficult to find a copilot tomorrow. That opened a whole new can of worms though, as then he'd be one step closer to getting back into Gipsy.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Possibility 12 hit the mat in front of Raleigh and he sighed in disgust. No one was lasting more than a couple minutes, and he wasn't impressed. "This isn't good enough." He said to the crowd of remaining hopefuls. He scanned the crowd that had grown to watch the spectacle, picking Audrey from the back where she stood back from the rest of the crowd, observing quietly. He motioned for her, and she walked up, her face impassive.

He threw a bo to her, and she squared herself to him. They began fighting, once again matching each other. The crowd grew silent as they became more intense, the sound of the bo's striking each other the only noise reverberating through the room. Finally Audrey got a strike directly to Raleigh's face, stopping just short of impact, and they both paused. "That's what I need." He said to the crowd, though his eyes didn't leave Audrey's.

Finally she pulled her gaze away, and stepped back, handing the bo to the next potential. "Let's go." Raleigh said, before attacking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!!


	3. THREE

Raleigh pressed play on the next fight clip between Solar Prophet and a Cat III Kaiju. Part of his job as the leader of the squad of Rangers was to evaluate each team's strategies and offer coaching or even share the better strategies with the rest of the group. However, he knew he was watching the clips to put off making a decision for a new copilot. Stacker had told him to take his time and find the right one, but he wasn't sure if any of the potentials he'd met fit the bill. He'd made a list of ones he wanted to see again, hoping that working with them on another day would show him a clear choice, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. He focused on the fight and brought his fist to his mouth, "oooh!" He cringed, bringing in a sharp uptake of breath. Solar Prophet's pilots had pulled a completely unexpected tactic, and quite literally cut the Kaiju in half. He paged for Anthony Pisano and Ricardo Ruiz to the training room and had them sit down.

"I was watching your fight against Scissure, and I wanted to get into your heads for a minute. That finisher was out of left field." Raleigh said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. They looked at him hesitantly, as if not sure if they were being reprimanded or praised. "It was damn effective, that's for sure; I just wouldn't expect that kind of unpredictability from you."

"It was more of a Becket move." Ricardo said, with a quirky half smile.

"Or a Vaughn move." Anthony added without humor.

"Well, it was all Anthony, I can't take credit." Ricardo told him. Raleigh doubted that. Part of the reason the pilots had to connect so well was because they need to think the same strategies, otherwise the Jaeger would be a mess of flailing limbs; however, Ricardo seemed happy to give the credit to Anthony, so Raleigh didn't see the need to correct them.

"We'd been out there for 6 hours, and we were getting anywhere." Anthony began. He explained that they began timing the Kaiju's different attacks, when it finally whirled around to get a strike with its heavy tail; they had jumped forward and ran their chain sword through it, pulling up and eviscerating it.

"It was impressive." Raleigh admitted. "Sometimes we forget that the playbooks are just a suggestion." The two nodded in agreement and they all sat in thought. "You guys doing alright? You've kinda stood in the background since you got here."

"We went to school with Chuck and Audrey. We learned how to duck." Ricardo said, picking up what Raleigh was really asking.

"What's up with them?" Raleigh asked.

"Who knows?" Anthony said, shrugging though he averted his eyes from Raleigh's. Raleigh sensed he knew more than he was telling, but everyone seemed to know more than they were telling . "Audrey is focused, sometimes too much. She's going to do everything in her power to be the best, and I guess her and Chuck didn't see eye to eye on that." Anthony guessed. "He's not the easiest to compete with."

"She's good at what she does." Ricardo added quickly.

"She wouldn't be here if she wasn't. I just don't know if I'd want her watching my back. She might think my back is worth sacrificing for the kill count." Anthony said quietly. "Her going to Alaska and doing her thing out there was probably the best thing that could have happened. She and the Russians get along so they worked together, and she didn't have to deal with people getting in her way."

"When Chuck said she didn't play well with others, there's a reason she didn't try to dispute it. It's just a fact." Ricardo said bluntly. "Just like it's a fact that Chuck needs a copilot that will let him take the lead, and the glory."

Raleigh nodded, even more confused about what was going on. He dismissed the team and thought for a minute. Pisano and Ruiz hadn't said anything outwardly against Audrey or Chuck, but it was clear whose side they were on. He didn't buy the competitive thing. If they both wanted to be the best, it didn't make sense for them to turn on each other. They would've worked to blow everyone out of the water. After the Academy no one was ranked individually, it was about the team. He shook his head, willing the thoughts away. He didn't need to worry about this shit. As long as they didn't tear each other's throats out and no more Jaegers were mysteriously broken, that was good enough for him. As it was, he got along better with Audrey than Chuck. Audrey was matter of fact, and told you exactly what she thought, if you asked her. Chuck volunteered his opinion when no one wanted it, and seemed to have a disdain for Raleigh simply existing.

Raleigh made his way back to his room, and paused at Audrey's door. He needed a second set of eyes at the callbacks tomorrow, and her straightforwardness would be an asset. He pounded on the door, and heard her yell "What?" in an annoyed tone.

Raleigh opened the door slowly, poking his head through. Audrey was glaring at him, sitting up in her bed, hair rumpled, with a bedside lamp switched on. She was wearing a white spaghetti strap top, and Raleigh wondered if her not getting out of bed meant she wasn't wearing much in way of bottoms. He dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come, as Audrey repeated herself. "What?" She gave him an 'out with it' look.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you'd be asleep already." Raleigh apologized.

"I sleep when I can." She told him, her face starting to lose its edge of annoyance.

"Me too." Raleigh muttered. He'd spent many a sleepless night relieving the pain and fear he felt when Yancy was pulled out of the Gipsy's cockpit. "I'm having some potentials come back tomorrow, gonna put them through their paces again."

"Ok." Audrey said, giving him a questioning look.

"I could use a second set of eyes." He said, a little more hopefully than he would have liked.

"When?"

"After lunch sometime, I need to clear it with The Marshall on when I can have them exactly."

"Come find me and I'll help." She told him, flopping back down on her pillow.

"You sure?" He asked, it had been a little too easy to convince her.

"YES!" She groaned waving her hand, shooing him away without getting back up. Raleigh decided not to do anything stupid like wait for her to change her mind and left, heading to his own room for the night.

Raleigh wandered around the shatterdome, looking for Audrey after lunch. He'd checked her room, all the training rooms, and the control room. He went through the cafeteria, wondering if she'd had a late lunch but still didn't see her. He was about to page her to the training room he'd signed out when Sasha Kaidonovsky spoke from the other side of the room. "She's in Coyote Tango." She offered. "She told us to let you know if we saw you."

"Thanks." He said, waving at them. He made his way to Coyote Tango, and walked into the elevator, taking it to the cockpit. He walked in and watched in confusion as Audrey and a mechanic stood over the port for the O2 lines talking intently as they soldered a piece of metal. "What are you doing?" He asked her.

"Fixing the lines." She told him, looking as if she wanted to add the word 'duh' to her sentence.

"You know what you're doing?" He teased, backing away when she aimed the soldering gun at him.

She removed her coveralls and protective goggles, leaving her navy blue uniform pants and shirt, her hair pulled into a tight bun. "Ready to crush some dreams?" She asked him, wiping her hands on her pants.

"I wouldn't put it that way." He said with a smirk as they walked into the training room.

"All those people in that room think they're going to work with the great Raleigh Becket. Only one of them gets to. There's gonna be some crying into pillows tonight." She said matter-of-factly.

After three hours of running through simulators, training exercises, physical training tests, and tactical drills, Raleigh dismissed all the recruits and turned to Audrey, who'd been sitting in the back of the room, staying quiet and thoughtful.

She leafed through the different files as Raleigh grabbed a chair and sat across from her. "What'd you think?" He asked her as she continued to stay silent.

"Honestly?"

"That's why you're here." He reminded her.

"Honestly, I think all of them would hold you back." She said. "They aren't on the same level as you, and they all play it safe." She handed a file to Raleigh. "You gave this one an opening so big you could drive a truck through it and he didn't realize it."

Raleigh fingered the picture of the recruit. She was right; he had remembered being disappointed that the potential hadn't used a leg sweep to knock Raleigh on his ass. It wasn't an officially sanctioned training move, but Raleigh would have taken it and apparently, so would Audrey. "None of them are gonna work." He announced with a deep sigh.

"Can you get a new batch?" Audrey asked him, standing up and putting her hands above her head, stretching her back.

"I can try." Raleigh said thoughtfully, wondering how the Marshall would feel about flying in more potentials. "Any idea who pulled the lines on Coyote?"

Audrey frowned at him. "I have my ideas."

"Care to share?" He prompted.

"Not until I'm sure." She said. "I promise it wasn't me." She said earnestly, looking at him.

"I never thought it was." He said honestly. That Jaeger was like her child, there was no way she'd hurt it.

He lingered in his spot, wanting to keep the conversation going, but not wanting to linger on a touchy subject. "How often do you work on Coyote?"

"As often as I can." She said, grabbing a pull up bar and slowly pulling herself up, then hanging by her elbows, swinging her feet as she spoke. "There was a time that I didn't think I'd ever get to pilot, so I made sure I'd know what I was doing with a wrench." She looked thoughtful and added, "Now if I just sit in the cockpit and don't ever work on it, I don't feel like I can take ownership."

"Makes sense." Raleigh said. "I never really thought of it like that… You really didn't think you'd get your own Jaeger?"

"Why would I? It hadn't been done before. There was no reason to build a Jaeger for me when there were teams that could pilot existing ones." She frowned slightly, swinging her feet faster, almost kicking Raleigh in the stomach. She gave a smirk as he jumped back.

He grabbed at her foot, missing it narrowly and she got him square in the chest a little harder than she intended. He fell backwards dramatically, suppressing a laugh. "Are you hurt?" Audrey asked in an uninterested tone.

"Just my pride." He said mockingly, not getting up.

"Get up." She said, standing over him and kicking his side gently with the toe of her boot. "I don't feel bad for you."

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow sitting up, then wrapping his arms around her knees, he pulled her down as she shrieked, falling on her back next to him. Raleigh leaned over her, a boyish grin on her face. Audrey wrinkled her nose in mock anger, but couldn't hold it for long. She shook her head at him, exasperated, and gave him the smallest of smiles. Raleigh stared into her deep brown eyes, and had to tear himself away, before he leaned in closer. He stood and offered her his hand. She grabbed it and he helped haul her up, their hands lingered and Audrey's eyes searched his face. She looked away and turned towards the door, Raleigh following her.

They both paused when they saw Sasha and Aleksis standing in the entrance of the training room, wearing cocky grins. "We thought we'd get a workout in." Aleksis said.

"We can go." Sasha added.

"We're done." Audrey said quickly, walking past them out into the hallway.

"Uh huh." Aleksis said, cocking an eyebrow at her as she passed.

Raleigh waited until Audrey was out of earshot before he took a shot in the dark with the Russians. "What's the deal with Chuck and Audrey?"

The Kaidonovsky's began speaking Russian to each other lowly as if they were worried Raleigh would understand them. Finally Sasha spoke up. "It's not our story to tell."

Raleigh sighed deeply. "I figured you'd say something like that."

"We were all friends, years ago." Aleksis added. "Top ten." He said in way of explanation.

Raleigh nodded, he knew what Aleksis meant. The top ten ranked at the Academy usually hung out together, kind of like the football players in high school. "What changed?"

"No one changed." Sasha said. "Change might have helped with the problem."

"Well thanks." Raleigh said, waving. "You've been… well no help at all."

"Chuck isn't the root of the issues." Sasha suddenly volunteered, ignoring the dirty look Aleksis shot her. "But he is just as bad." Sasha turned away, not willing to say more and Raleigh looked at Aleksis with the hope of clarification.

Aleksis shrugged, and Raleigh left, still no closer to figuring out what was going on with Audrey and Chuck. He had one last stop to make before he was done for the night; he needed to tell Stacker he needed more potential copilots.

Stacker Pentecost stared at Raleigh, absorbing his request. "You honestly don't think any of them would work?"

"Not well." Raleigh said truthfully.

"Just because you don't have the same connection that you did with your brother right away doesn't mean you won't eventually get there." Stacker reminded him.

"I know. I also know when it feels right." Raleigh said confidently.

"Like it feels right with Vaughn?" Stacker questioned.

Raleigh froze for a beat, before realizing the Marshall meant as a potential copilot, not a potential date. "Something like that."

"Vaughn isn't an option, Becket."

"I know that." Raleigh wished it wasn't true, but he did know that Audrey would never give up her Jaeger for Gipsy, even if she could drift with him.

"The Academy is flying in some cadets day after tomorrow for tours, along with some of the private backers of the program and the press. I'll have them send some potentials, and I'll see if there's anyone else that could match." Stacker finally said.

"Thank you sir." Raleigh said with relief.

He turned to leave and Stacker added, "This is it though Becket, you don't find someone, I'll bring another team in to pilot Gipsy."

Raleigh nodded, and his stomach dropped. As much as getting back in Gipsy terrified him, it would kill him to see someone else in the cockpit.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
